The Abu Dhabi GP is a crucial race for Alonso and Ferrari as they try to regain lost ground to Red Bull Racing and this was evident as the Italian team mechanics broke the 4am curfew at the circuit to install their new updates on the F2012.

It is believed that Ferrari did not bring the new updates for the Indian Grand Prix for fear of them being held up in customs as had happened with the tyre balancing machine for Schumacher's Mercedes W02 at last year's Indian GP.